Meal Plans

Why Meal Plan?

Above you will find a picture of me weighing in at a hefty 310lbs. On the right you will see me weighing in at 185lbs. This all happened over the course of 18 months with no exercise whatsoever, strictly diet change and focusing on anti-inflammatory foods.

I was sick. I was overweight. I was full of aches, sinus problems, dizziness, anxiety, and depression. I was only 16 years old. Way too young to be feeling this way. The doctors kept telling me it was in my head and that somehow their magic pill would fix all my issues. I am just touching the surface of the hardest journey that I’ve ever been through. I was able to get myself from 310lbs to 185lbs within 18 months with diet change alone. I cut out gluten, soy, corn, grains, and dairy – and focused on anti-inflammatory foods. Now at 24, with two beautiful children and wife (all following the same diet!), I feel young as ever. I am active. All of my aches, sinus problems, dizziness, anxiety, and depression are completely gone and for once in my life, I can say with a smile – I love living.

I never understood how much of an impact the food we eat has on our gut health, central nervous system, and all other parts of the body. At 16 years old, by chance, a friend reached out to me after seeing a post I made on Facebook and he asked if he could call me. After a 90 minute phone call he let me in on his struggles growing up, that sounded exactly like my current state. He was telling me that all these types of foods he cut out of his diet was the culprit to his issues. I was in disbelief but at that point in my life – I would have done anything to get better.

I did not know where to start. I was uneducated about food at the time. I did not know how to cook. After doing extensive research, I came across meal planning with Real Plans. Real Plans is a unique meal plan database of recipes that are designed to fit in your unique diet from Paleo, Autoimmune Paleo, Keto, Vegetarian, Vegan, and more. I was able to sign up and go through target my exact new dietary needs.

It’s now been several years since I’ve been strictly following Real Plans meal planning. I am able to produce my own great recipes or meal plan for the week through Real Plans knowing that I am not going to be eating the same food over and over. This has helped me maintain my weight and also is a great direction to point others when they ask me where to start.

Sign up with Real Plans:

Upon signing up with Real Plans, you go through a series of questions. First Real Plans will ask what hemisphere, time zone, and metric of measurements you use – along with favorite grocery store. This information makes sure that seasonal recipes are delivered during months where those fresh veggies are available.

Next Real Plans will ask you a series of questions around your current cooking preference and diet. You can choose how many meals a week you cook for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can also describe how much you cook (or don’t). Next is my favorite part. You can pick your diet and eliminate anything that you do not want in it. The diet is customized for you. For example, if you’re avoiding inflammatory nightshades but want to follow a traditional Paleo diet, or if there is an allergy in the family such as peanuts or dairy, all recipes using those ingredients will not show up.

Next, Real Plans will let you create a custom chart of what days you would like to cook. You can fully customize this and change it at the drop of a dime anytime during the week.

After Real Plans receives this information, a custom meal plan is created for you with all dietary restrictions, allergies, and pre-planned meals for the week. Their database pulls from the best ranked recipes and are always delicious, vibrant, and healthy. Real Plans also has LIVE customer service 24/7 for all of your questions. This has been super helpful for questions on the go.

Meal planning has helped me keep off 100+ pounds over several years and become a truly amazing chef (that’s what the family tells me). My specific meal plan is aimed towards a Paleo diet that also cuts out eggs (personal intolerance). I have my whole week planned out in advance helping me with time, savings at the grocery store, and the headache of always having to come up with recipes the whole family will eat. Working a full time job and being the primary cook in the family is tough. It’s hard to stay consistent unless you have something like Real Plans working for you.

My life today:

You’ve probably heard the famous Hippocrates quote “Let food be thy medicine”. I would not have believed this if I did not get that call from an old friend while I was suffering the lowest point in my life. I am so grateful for trusting my gut (pun entirely intended) and giving it a try. I am now extremely successful in my career, have the most beautiful family, and most importantly, I am happy. I was my biggest self advocate in ridding the inflammation in my body by eating the right foods vs. trying to cover up symptoms with medication as the doctors were recommending. When I am not coming up with new recipes in the kitchen, you will often find me playing with the kids and reliving my youth. I have no problems hoping on a skateboard or mountain bike. I have more energy than my 6 year old and I can keep up with my 1.5 year old.

Real Plans has been so important in my success and in a way, helped me in my own journey of changing my life. Farmtofarm fully endorses Real Plans and meal planning in general. It is so important to learn about the food we are putting into our body and how it impacts us. We need to beat big pharma with farms.

Real Plans starts as low as 6 dollars a month and will be the best decisions you have ever made. Only you can take control of your body.

Archives

Categories

Amazon Affiliate Disclosure

Farmtofam is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com